Once Upon a December
by the Anastasia Collection
Summary: [ANASTASIA] Anya's Dream Waltz. Anya meets Dimitri & Vlad. ©98. Plz read&review, thx!
1. Anya's Dream Waltz

**"Once Upon a December" **   
by Ashley 

Summary: [ANASTASIA] Anya's Dream Waltz. ©98. Plz read&review, thx!   
~*~ 

"Pooka! Pooka!" called Anya, running after her puppy, "Pooka, where are you?" After trying unsuccessfully to get a ticket to Paris, an old woman had told Anya to "see Dimitri; he can help." The woman had said to find him in the old palace. Well, that's where she was now; the giant Catherine Palace, looking to find someone named Dimitri. Pooka had run under a boarded up doorway. 

Anya pulled on the boards to go in and landed on the ground--- seat first. Anya got up and went in, replaces her hat which had fallen off her head. She went through a maze of halls and stairs, almost as if she knew her way around. Anya, followed by Pooka, went up a staircase to its landing. Everything was covered with cobwebs. 

"Hello?" she called, "Anybody home?" She stuck her scarf into her coat pocket and walked up an adjoining stair. The orphan found herself in another hall. She followed it into a room with a table full of dishes covered with dust and cobwebs. Pooka slid under the table. 

Anya went up to the table. She gently blew the dust off of a small silver plate. The cobwebs came loose. As she looked at the reflection, she saw something in it. She saw a little girl in blue clothes being lifted and twirled by a bearded man. It disappeared and Anya set the plate back down. 

What _is_ this place, she thought, The whole time I've been in here, I've had a creepy, yet strangely friendly and familiar feeling. Like I've been here before. 

The girl walked across the room to a stand in front of a mirror. She nearly gasped as she saw the stand contained a porcelain vase with a pattern of bears and swans. She wiped dust off of it. "This place... It's... it's like a memory from a dream..." she said. Anya could almost hear something. It was like music. She and Pooka followed it through a set of French doors. The room was a giant ballroom. A sweeping flight of stairs led to the dancefloor. Tall floor-to-ceiling windows lined the walls. Above them, hung dusty potraits. It was like something deep from her memory. 

"_Once upon a December..._" softly sang Anya, as she descended the stairs to a landing. Anya came upon a life-size portrait of the last czar and his family. She could almost remember something. She remembered "_Someone holds me safe and warm, horses prance through a silver storm, figures dancing gracefully across my memory...._" 

As she remembered, Anya took off her coat and gloves. She came to the top of the staircase. Suddenly, with her minds eye, men and women in beautiful clothes jumped out of the portraits that lined the walls and waltzed to the dance floor. Could Anya really be seeing all this? 

Anya bowed to several of the ghosts as she went down to the dance floor. Her feet seemed to carry her across the floor gracefully, almost like she knew how to waltz. How and where did she learn? Behind her, as she danced around, the Czar, Czarina and four of their children came down from their portrait. 

Three of the Czar's daughters came around the orphan and gave her fabulous jewels and amazingly, Anya's rags seemed to transform to a beautiful yellow gown and a gold crown appeared on her head. In her minds eye, Anya saw herself dance with handsome dukes, like a regal princess. She tried to remember things from long ago, something glowing dim like an ember, things her heart used to know, things it yearned to remember. 

Then, one of the princes backed away and Anya came face-to-face with Czar Nicholas II. He danced with her for a moment before kissing her forehead. Anya gracefully bowed to him and sank to the floor. She could still hear that familiar, fading melody. "_Once upon a December......._" 

Suddenly, a voice rang out, ending Anya's dream waltz, "Hey, what are you doing in here?!" 

_(continues as in the movie)_ __

... 

ANASTASiA™ is copyright of 20thC.Fox, etc. ^_^ 

PS. Believe it or not, this is a work of fiction. All the incidents, names, and characters are imaginary.   
Any resemblence to actual persons etc, living or dead, is completely coincidental. ^_~ 

written by Ashley ©98, edited by SimbiAni™ ©2G4 


	2. Anya meets Dimitri & Vlad

**"Once Upon a December" **   
by Ashley 

Summary: [ANASTASIA] Anya meets Dimitri & Vlad, & the negotiations begin, hehe... ©98. Plz read&review, thx!   
~*~ 

As soon as someone called to her, Anya's yellow gown and everything disappeared, leaving Anya in a sitting position on the ballroom floor. Anya peeked behind her and took off running across the ballroom. She could hear someone calling for her stop and the pounding of feet on the marble floor. Anya ran up the staircase and had to slow down, do to being out of breath. She turned around slowly. 

Behind her on a landing halfway down the staircase, stood a young man with brown hair. He had been frowning as he came up the stairs. He started to ask how she got in there, but then he saw something and a big smile crept over his face. Anya wondered what he was staring at and frowned. 

Then an older man, fat around the middle with a beard, ran up the stairs, calling, "Excuse me child, " but the younger man cut him off and said something. The older man shook his head and the brown-haired man pulled his glasses over the other's eyes. Then the bearded one smiled and said, "Yes!" Pooka started barking at the young man and he picked Pooka up and gave him to his friend, mumbling something. 

Anya took that opportunity to ask, "Are you Dimitri?" 

The man came up the stairs asking, "That all depends on who's looking for him." 

Anya went over to him and said, "My name is Anya and I need travel papers." The man started to circle her. "...they say you're the man to see, but I can't say who said that." Then she became aware that he was circling her, studying her almost. Anya became annoyed. Why was he circling her? "What are circling me for? Were you a vulture in another life?" 

"I'm sorry, Enya," said Dimitri, mispronouncing her name. Anya corrected him twice. He went on. "You just look an awful lot like... Now did you say something about travel papers?" His friend came up to them. 

"Yes," replied Anya, "I'd like to go to Paris." 

"You'd like to go to Paris?," asked Dimitri. Pooka was now licking Dimitri's large friend. Dimitri looked a little disgusted. Then he came back to Anya. "All right, let me ask you something- _Anya_, is it? Is there a last name that goes with this?" 

Anya rubbed her forehead. He was going to think this was crazy. "Well, you're going to think this is crazy but, I don't know my last name; I was found wandering around when I was eight years-old." 

Dimitri seemed very interested. "And before that, before you were eight..." 

"Now look, look I know it's strange, but I don't remember. I have very few memories of my past," said Anya, fingering her beloved necklace. 

Dimitri looked at his friend and said something, too low for Anya to hear. 

"But I do have one clue, however, and that is Paris." 

"Paris?" 

"Right. So can you two help me or not?" 

Dimitri looked back at the older man and motioned for something. Anya caught a word: "Vlad." His friend's name was Vladimir. 

"We'd like to," said Dimitri, "and oddly enough we happen to be going to Paris ourselves." Anya was elated. They were going to Paris! Dimitri continued. "..And we have three.." he tossed an extra ticket to the ground. "Well this one is something else, but we have three train tickets!" Anya made a grab for them, but Dimitri pulled them out of her reach. "But the third ticket," he said, "Is for her," he motioned to the Czar's portrait, " Anastasia." 

Vladimir and Dimitri pulled Anya by the arms as she estimated what he just said and the three walked up the stairs. Vladimir said, "We are going to reunite the Grand Duchess Anastasia with her grandmother." 

"You know, you _do_ kind of resemble her," said Dimitri. 

"The same blue eyes!," said Vladimir. 

"The Romanov eyes!" 

"Nicholas's smile--" 

"Alexandra's chin--" 

"Oh, and she even has the grandmother's hands!" 

Dimitri finished, "She's the same age, the same physical type..." 

Wait! What were they saying!? Anya was puzzled. They thought she was..."You think that _I'm_ Anastasia?" This was crazy! 

"All I'm trying to say is that I've seen thousands of girls all over the country not ONE of them looks as much like the Grand Duchess as you! I mean, look at the portrait!," said Dimitri. He pointed to another painting. 

Anya laughed. "I knew you were crazy from the beginning, but now I think you are _both_ mad!" The orphan started to walk away, but Dimitri headed her off. 

"Why? You don't know what happened to you!" 

Vladimir said, "No one knows what happened to her--" 

"Your looking for family in Paris--" 

"And her only family is _in_ Paris!" 

Dimitri gently turned her around, heading back to Vladimir. "Ever think of the possibility...?" Pooka was put in her arms. 

"...that I could be royalty?" The two nodded. Anya shook her head. This was unbelievable! "Well, it's kind of hard to think of yourself as a duchess when you're sleeping on a damp floor... but sure yeah, I guess every lonely girl hopes she's a princess." 

Dimitri walked off as Vlad said, "And somewhere, one little girl _is_. After all, the name Anastasia means 'she will rise again'!" Anya and Vlad looked at the smallish portrait. 

"Really wish we could help," said Dimitri, walking back to them and pulling Vlad away, "But the third ticket _is_ for the Grand Duchess Anastasia. Good luck!" He and Vladimir walked way. 

Anya blew out her breath in exasperation. The last ticket only for the Grand Duchess. This was impossible! Or was it... Anya stared at the portrait of Anastasia what she assumed to be the princess' grandmother, the Dowager Empress Marie. Hmmm... Could she really be Anastasia? Maybe that would explain why she felt the way she did about the palace. Anya remembered her dream dance. Things her heart used to know, things it yearned to remember... 

Anya reached out and touched the dusty portrait and then pulled back. "Hmmmm..." Then she thought, Well, what can I lose? I'll just go to Paris to see if I'm the duchess and if I'm not... It was the only chance for her to find the family she had been longing for for ten years. Anya made up her mind and ran for the stairs to catch the two, if it wasn't too late. Pooka jumped down from her arms. "Dimitri! Dimitri wait!" Good! They were still in the ballroom. 

They turned around. "Did you call me?" asked Dimitri. 

Anya walked down the stairs. "Well, if I don't know who I am, who's to say I'm not a princess or a duchess, or whatever she is, right?" 

"Yes, go on." 

"And if I'm _not_ Anastasia, the Empress will certainly know right away and it'll all be an honest mistake." 

Vlad cut in. "But if you _are_ the Grand Duchess, you'll finally know who you are and have your family back!" 

"You know, you know he's right. Either way it gets you to Paris!" said Dimitri. Anya agreed and they shook hands. Apparently a little to hard on her part, because Dimitri yelped in pain and clutched his wrist. Then he said, making a dramatic bow, "May I present Her Royal Highness, the Grand Duchess Anastasia!" 

Anya was finally on her way to Paris! 

_(continues as in the movie)_ __

... 

ANASTASiA™ is copyright of 20thC.Fox, etc. ^_^ 

PS. Believe it or not, this is a work of fiction. All the incidents, names, and characters are imaginary.   
Any resemblence to actual persons etc, living or dead, is completely coincidental. ^_~ 

written by Ashley ©98, edited by SimbiAni™ ©2G4 


End file.
